Being successful is not always what it’s cracked up to be. We all want it, but when it shows up, it often means more work and less freedom. After all, when more work shows up, that means more work shows up. Often times in the form of more hours spent on your business.
It’s for this very reason that so many people never make to the level they should. Subconsciously we know more business means more work. In many entrepreneur’s heads the battle is already lost. They say things like “I just can’t handle any more clients” and that’s exactly what happens.
We all want the glory of success but most aren’t willing to do what it takes to get there. Then, to make matters worse, when some of us DO get there, we regress from the stress of working our ass off. Being successful often means being really busy too. It can be a drag and wear a man down.
So what do you do in order to not get what you want then be miserable having it?
The first step is to know what you want to do in your business and what you don’t. The sooner you figure out what you want to focus your time on, the sooner you can outsource the rest. For example, I love writing, I write post like these daily. Meanwhile, I hate dealing with wordpress so I simply write the words in evernote and have my assistant upload the pics and fancy stuff to my blog. Saves me time and stress.
When I first got started in the consulting world, I did everything myself. Ads, SEO, Videos, Websites and membership sites. It was a ton of time demanding work. I didn’t have a whole lot of cash to outsource stuff, so I did it myself. It sucked.
As soon as I made a few sales I hired help. Most people are tempted to take on a partner. I strongly advise against that. It’s easier to pay for good help than it is to split your earnings. One partner will always outwork and earn the other. This leads to animosity among partners.
After I hired help, I made a list of stuff I wanted my assistant to do. Before we did anything we set firm boundaries and job descriptions in place. Now, years later, I couldn’t run my business without her. She works 20-30 hours a week from home and that gives me an extra 20-30 hours a week to get real sh!it done in my business.
When hiring help, you’ve got the stress of training to deal with too. New people coming on board not only cost you tax and healthcare costs, they take time away from what you need to be doing. There’s two ways you can cut down on your time training new people.
The first way is to record videos of you training the first person. Take these videos and upload them to youtube and save the links to the videos in a word document. You can leave them unlisted or private if you need, so the general public doesn’t see them. The next person you hire, just have them watch all the videos before they show up to work.
The second way is to have the person you trained, train others. The only problem with this is the fact that it takes that person away from their normal duties. So, somewhere down the line work is not getting done.
I personally like to leverage technology any chance I get. It’s cheap, works 24/7 and is predictable. I use technology for my sales pitches, trainings, and delivery of services. Anything I do, I record it so I can use it for different purposes at a later time.
Another thing that will help you a ton is that if you’re not good with money, (most of us aren’t) you need a bookkeeper and accountant. I hired a contract CEO to look at my entire operation. I know there are some holes I need to fill but I don’t have time or knowledge to fix it. So I outsourced it. One of the best decisions of my career.
Also, it puts someone else in charge of your money, taxes and paychecks. I pay myself a salary every two weeks. No bonuses and always the same amount. My income is not predictable as well. This helps a lot when I apply for lines of credit or house loans for my flips. Hiring a payroll company is important no matter how much you earn. Mine cost me $70 a month. No big deal.
Lastly, the best advice I can give you is to live your life by a schedule. Every single move I make I log in my google calendar. It’s on my phone, my desktop and my assistant and family have access to it. Any time we have something my GF puts it in my calendar, my assistant even puts my appointments in there too. I wake up each day and know exactly what to do and when it needs to be done.
I’ve even got a schedule once account that I use for my prospects to auto-book their time. I love it, there’s no wasted time going back and forth. They pick a time, it books it. Then it sends multiple auto follow up and reminder emails. it’s $30/month. Worth it.
If you’re going to enjoy the fruits of your labor, you’re going to need time. Time to take care of yourself. Time with people you love. Time to friggin relax a bit. Keep in mind, lots of young CEOs die of heart attacks each year. Don’t stress, it will always end up working out like it was going to any way.
The more time you buy, the better life you’ll have. You CAN take on more clients, you just have to scale. You CAN get more business, you just need help. You CAN get to your dream level, you just can’t do it alone with only 24 hours in a day.
If you’d like to talk with me direct about how I run my business and the exact systems and strategies I use to scale, simply fill out the form below and schedule a time on my calendar. See? That’s how I roll.
